{"id":2524,"date":"2017-11-22T17:51:26","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T17:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2524"},"modified":"2022-02-17T17:03:42","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T17:03:42","slug":"conversion-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2524","title":{"rendered":"Conversion Confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 2<\/p><p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note: <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our <strong>Brief Articles 1<\/strong>\u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><em>Conversion <\/em>is the theme of the New Testament. It embraces redemption, forgiveness, and salvation\u2014the purpose of Jesus\u2019 coming. To \u201cconvert\u201d means to change\/turn from one\u2019s present course. One\u2019s salvation depends upon his conversion (Mat. 18:3; Acts 3:19), so we <strong>must <\/strong>understand the New Testament\u2019s teaching concerning it. Few subjects, however, involve more confusion than this one does.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">Conversion brings one from lost to saved, sinner to saint, non-Christian to Christian, the world and into the church, and it involves three distinct and necessary changes.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>Conviction change: <\/strong>Picture a \u201ccasual\u201d unbeliever in God and Jesus\u2014one who has just not thought seriously about the subject. He drives a car, relies on a GPS unit, depends on a smart phone, and operates a computer. He knows such articles required intelligence, design, and manufacturing. He applies this reasoning to the universe and to his own body; he cannot be honest and attribute them to blind accident. He reads the Bible\u2019s statement that an omniscient, omnipotent, eternal God created all things (Gen. 1:1)\u2014the <strong>rational <\/strong>explanation of origins. He reads of Jesus in the Gospel and moved by His miracles and His love for mankind, he believes in Him as God\u2019s Son. His convictions have changed; the unbeliever now believes. Jesus said, \u201cExcept ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins\u201d (John 8:24). To millions, belief alone equals conversion. What does the Bible teach?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>Mind-life change: <\/strong>The Bible word for this change is <em>repentance<\/em>. The basic meaning of this word is a change of mind\u2014the decision to turn <strong>from <\/strong>a life of sin and self <strong>to <\/strong>one that follows wherever Jesus leads through His New Testament. One may believe that Jesus is the Christ without deciding to abandon sin and serve Him. Repentance is the point at which he \u201cmakes<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">up his mind\u201d to do so\u2014and then he does so (Mat. 3:8). Jesus said that one will perish if he<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">does not repent (Luke 13:3). Does mere repentance complete conversion? The Bible answers, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>Relationship-to-God change: <\/strong>While faith and repentance move one <strong>toward <\/strong>God and His Son, these do not bring one <strong>into fellowship <\/strong>with Them. This relationship change is accomplished in baptism, wherein one\u2019s sins are forgiven, \u201cwashed away\u201d in the blood of Christ (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rev. 1:5). At this point\u2014and not before\u2014one is added to the church of Christ because he is saved (Acts 2:47). In baptism (i.e., immersion in water)\u2014and not before\u2014one enters \u201cinto Christ\u201d (Rom. 6:3\u20134; Gal. 3:27), the only One and \u201cplace\u201d wherein salvation resides (Acts 4:12). Thus <strong>believers <\/strong>on Pentecost were commanded to \u201crepent and be baptized\u201d to receive forgiveness of sins\/salvation (Acts 2:38).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">[<strong>Note: <\/strong>I wrote this article for and it was published in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, September 16, 2016.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Attribution: <\/strong>Printed from <em>TheScripturecache.com<\/em>, owned and administered by Dub McClish.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 2[Note: This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 1\u00a0page.] Conversion is the theme of the New Testament. It embraces redemption, forgiveness, and salvation\u2014the purpose of Jesus\u2019 coming. To \u201cconvert\u201d means to change\/turn from one\u2019s present course. One\u2019s salvation depends upon&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2524\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  Conversion Confusion<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,37,73,74,79,54,110,36,18,115,42,40,38,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetics","category-baptism","category-blood-of-christ","category-conversion","category-denominational-doctrines","category-evidences","category-evolution","category-faith","category-false-teachersdoctrine","category-god","category-obedience","category-plan-of","category-repentance","category-salvation","wpcat-55-id","wpcat-37-id","wpcat-73-id","wpcat-74-id","wpcat-79-id","wpcat-54-id","wpcat-110-id","wpcat-36-id","wpcat-18-id","wpcat-115-id","wpcat-42-id","wpcat-40-id","wpcat-38-id","wpcat-72-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2524"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18877,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions\/18877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}